by J. N. Chaney
I slowed to a walk, gathered myself, and wondered why I never learned to pray. It seemed like something that just might be a good idea when diving headfirst into hell.
"X, am I missing anything? I've checked my gear twice but feel like I left the coffee maker running or something," I said. "I'm getting soft. Having people to do a buddy check of the EVA gear is comforting."
"Do you require comfort?" X-37 said. "Shall I advise Jelly to allow other crew members into this area so that they might check your gear or talk you out of this reckless course of action?"
"Never mind," I said, but the words were quiet. I didn't have the energy or the will to argue with my LAI right now. It was time to get angry.
"Jelly, open the airlock. Give me a countdown. I don't want to miss my landing," I said.
"You must jump in six seconds for optimal deployment. Six, five, four—"
"That was abrupt, Jelly!" I shouted, bouncing on my toes and preparing to sprint toward the opening. I could see how close we were to the enemy ship as it passed by us. There were flashes of explosions and occasionally a rocket zipping past my limited field of view.
I sprinted toward the opening, pumping my arms and driving with my legs. This could work, and if it didn’t, there would only be one casualty.
"—two, one," Jelly said.
I launched myself as the countdown ended and felt the void of space all around me. From inside the airlock, the close-up view of the enemy ship seemed oppressive—so close that I thought the ships would scrape together. Now my decision felt like a different story.
Pulsing the steering jets of the EVA gear, I straightened out my course, feeling like I was falling through an energy storm. The brief flash of explosions in the lashing attacks of energy weapons painted the scene around me blue and green and purple and yellow, depending on what was happening each time I blinked my eyes.
As soon as it began, it ended. The enemy flight deck seemed to fly at me. I twisted my feet ahead of me, proud of how smooth I was working the steering jets. It was an odd detail to be proud of, but I savored it, knowing a brutal landing was in my immediate future.
"Congratulations, Reaper Cain," X-37 said. "You're going to make it. I estimate your closing speed at twenty kilometers per hour."
"That's way too fucking fast! I didn't jump that hard," I shouted, reaching forward with my feet so I would be ready to roll when I hit.
"You made no attempt to factor in the relative speeds of the ships," X-37 explained. "Honestly, you're lucky this time."
"You should've warned me," I said, squinting and bracing myself as though that would reduce the pain I was about to feel.
"I attempted to do so," X-37 said. "Would you like me to replay the recording?"
"Why the hell not?" I said a microsecond before I slammed onto the Black Wing deck at an odd angle.
My limited artificial intelligence probably answered, but I didn't hear. I was asshole over elbows for about twenty-five meters, at which point there was a conveniently placed ship hull to stop my momentum. Bouncing into the air from this asinine obstruction, I reached out with one leg and managed to engage my boot magnets. X-37 had been very clear on whether or not there would be gravity in this bay.
All of the ships were gone and I didn't see any dockworkers. The ship shook from battle damage, then listed to one side. A voice announced, "Intruder alert, deck five, secondary landing bay."
"Game time, X," I said, raising my HDK Dominator and running for the first door. "I need maps and schematics. As quick as you can get them to me."
"Of course. Keep your helmet on and your oxygen bottle fresh. The Black Wing is taking significant damage from the ship-to-ship slugfest the captains have engaged in. Please expect loss of atmosphere, gravity, and power when it is least convenient," X-37 said. "I'm placing the first three turns you need to make on your HUD. Also, there is one enemy unit moving to intercept you."
"One? I'm almost insulted," I said as I darted through the first doorway and down the hall. At the T intersection, I turned left just as the schematic in my HUD display suggested.
"There are additional units responding, but none of them are as close. Estimated time of contact, five seconds," X-37 said, all business.
I rounded the corner prepared for ship security and ran up against an Archangel. I’d fought them before, but never on a ship and never this close.
The soldier stood seven feet tall in his golden armor. It wasn't like costume jewelry gold, but more of a stainless steel with a golden sheen. I'd never seen the Union indulge in such style.
"Surrender, Reaper," the Archangel said.
I really doubted my light armor under my EVA would stop whatever gun he was using. I didn't recognize the model. It was, however, big. Looking down the barrel was like looking into a pit of death.
"Nice digs," I said. "Aren't you worried that shiny armor will give you away when you're going into a fight?"
"By the time they see me, it's too late," the man said.
I didn't recognize his voice or the way he moved. The list of Union soldiers good enough to become Reapers or Archangels was short. Once upon a time, I’d known them all.
"Surrender, now," he ordered.
"X, I need something here," I said.
An access door to my left slid open, leading into a maintenance hallway that was almost too short and narrow to use. I rushed in without hesitation and heard the door shut behind me. I was at the next tight corner before I heard the Archangel ripping the door from the wall.
"Please tell me that brute is too big to come this way," I said.
"This maintenance passage becomes significantly smaller the further you go," X-37 advised. "It will seriously hinder the Archangel's movements."
"How small are we talking, X?" I squatted down and ducked my head to walk into a new section of the passage. Despite my physical conditioning, I was breathing hard and sweating profusely.
"It will eventually lead to a bot access point that you will not be able to traverse," X-37 said.
"What the actual fuck, X? How does that help me?" I shouted.
"Prepare to belly crawl," X-37 said, apparently not feeling any remorse for putting me in this situation.
"We really need to plan better." I grunted, not used to doing the combat crawl.
"There was literally no planning for this operation," X-37 said. "Please move faster. The Archangel is proving more persistent than expected."
I glanced over my shoulder, which was difficult in the tight confines. The golden giant was already sprawled out on his belly, low crawling like some kind of snake monster. The sight motivated me to squirm around the next corner and force my way forward, banging my helmet several times. It was hard to say how many small pipes, circuit panels, and other critical infrastructure I was destroying during my rapid flight from my enemy.
"I'm starting to think I should have just stood and fought."
"That course of action had a low probability of success," X-37. "You made the best possible choice, although it is not going to feel like it in a few seconds."
I came to a small hatch, twisted the wheel to open it, and pushed myself forward. It was fairly obvious I was beyond the part of the passage meant for humans. There was no lighting and I began to slip on some sort of lubricant I couldn't see.
"What are you talking about, X?" I demanded.
"The Archangel is preparing to fire his weapon," X-37 said. "On a positive note, he will just be spraying and praying, to use one of your imprecise descriptions."
The sound cancellation feature in my helmet wasn’t the best, but it muted the worst of the thunder. Bracing for the worst, I felt the first round square on my ass cheek.
"That was a ricochet, Reaper Cain," X-37 reassured me. "It should not penetrate the carbon fiber sleeves of your armor."
I didn't dignify the statement with a response. Tears welled in my eyes and I literally couldn't speak from the pain. Everything from my lower back to my left hamstring felt like it had bee
n struck by a pneumatic hammer.
"Are you okay, Reaper Cain? Do you need medical assistance?" X-37 asked.
"He shot me in the ass!" I scrambled around several twists and turns without caring where I was going—the deeper the better.
"Come out and fight, Reaper!" the Archangel said.
"Bite me."
"Very mature," X-37 said.
"You can’t go much farther, Reaper," the Archangel shouted, causing the speakers in my helmet to distort the sound. "All I have to do is seal this area and call for drones."
"I’m not afraid of drones," I replied, pausing to consider my next move while he wasn’t shooting at me. "How many of you assholes are there on this ship?"
"That’s classified," he answered via comms.
"Of course," I said, scooting closer to a round hatch with no obvious way to open it. "X, can you take care of this?"
"Certainly," X-37 said. A second later, the hatch opened to reveal more of the same—long narrow tunnels barely big enough for maintenance bots.
This deep into the guts of the ship, the sounds of the main battle were distant and dull. Vibrations rolled through the ship. Power flickered from time to time.
Something changed, like the Archangel’s buddies had shown up and started shooting at something or someone in the main hallway.
"X, what the hell is going on out there?" I pushed forward and saw a light at the end of the tunnel while the left side of my ass felt like it was swelling to three times its normal size—which I doubted was the actual case but whatever. It hurt like hell.
"I’d rather not tell you," X-37 said.
"X," I growled.
"Truly, Reaper Cain, it will only aggravate you and inspire a new batch of senseless profanity," X-37 said.
"Elise jumped after us, didn’t she?"
X-37 beeped, which I thought was a copout. The LAI could process information faster than this, even with all the problems Necron and other Union ship computers had caused him lately.
"Show the way out so I can find her and throw her off this ship," I said, twisting and turning, struggling to get to a new hallway where I could run and gun and kick ass.
"I never said Elise was the source of the gunfire," X-37 complained.
"Stop screwing around, X. You know it’s Elise doing the crazy shit she does because she doesn’t know her limitations," I said.
"It’s not just the girl. It’s Path as well," X-37 said.
"Fan-freaking-tastic," I said. "He had to have jumped about ten times the distance I did if he came from the Nightmare. I thought I was insane."
"The probability of successfully making such a crossing between ships while every available gun is firing and the shields are at maximum does in fact have a low probability of success," X-37 confirmed. "How is your gluteus maximus?"
"Don’t worry about it," I said. "Let’s keep that war wound between us, all right?"
"Of course, Reaper Cain. I am programmed for discretion," X-37 said.
Getting my shoulders through each intersection in this tunnel was hard, requiring me to drive hard with my legs and pull with my arms once I had them through to the next section. The lubricant, or insulation gel, or fire retardant, or whatever the slimy shit in here was helped me slip through the tightest spots. It also made it hard to grab and push effectively.
"I have made contact with Elise and Path and established a rendezvous point," X-37 said. "Elise is asking if you have taken out any of the Archangels."
"Connect us and I’ll tell her myself," I said, emerging into a larger section of the passage.
Crawling to my feet, I opened an actual door—and stared down the barrel of an Archangel long gun.
"There you are, Reaper," the man said.
"Shit." There were probably better things to say or do, but I was tired.
The man didn’t laugh. "What am I going to do, Reaper, now that I’ve caught the most dangerous man in the galaxy?"
"How about you give him a lighter?"
"That’s funny," he said.
"You don’t sound like you’re laughing," I replied, wanting desperately to pull my HDK from my back and shoot him in the face. The weapon was probably too greasy to hold and my enemy was definitely way too fast for me to surprise him.
"Elise is approaching this intersection," X-37 said. "Keep him talking."
"Where are the rest of your friends?" I asked.
"Surrounding your friends," the Archangel said. "The girl will get locked down. The strange one with the sword will need to die."
A sense of calm came over me as the man talked. Why? Because he didn’t know my friends. This guy was the best the Union had to offer and was wearing the most badass armor I’d ever seen. It was more than just the look of it. I could tell by how crisp his movements were and how effortlessly he changed positions that the controls were next level stuff.
Why wouldn’t he think we were beaten?
The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a pretty damned good question.
"X, I’m bored with this guy," I said.
"As am I, Reaper Cain," X-37 said. "Go for the throat."
Without hesitation, I extended my arm blade as I thrust it toward my target. The Archangel armor was impressive, but there were always the same weak points in humanoid-shaped armor.
Sure, it looked like the gap between the helmet and the chest plate was covered with an impenetrable weave of alloy, but there had to be a weak spot, even if it was narrower than a human hair.
My blade took him completely by surprise, slicing under his chin and into his brain. I drove my arm up hard, pushing him backward. After twisting the blade, I ripped it free, spraying blood across the deck and walls.
Three Archangels entered the hallway, so I tossed a smoke grenade and fled the other direction. The distraction device also sent up a bunch of white-hot chaff to confuse infrared sensors. I didn’t give two shits about how advanced they thought their gear was, I’d caught them napping and was going to make the most of it.
"Elise, can you read me?" I asked.
"We do not have access to their comms at this moment,” X-37 said. "I believe she and Path are working their way toward the bridge."
"Good," I said, flicking the blood from my blade and retracting it into its housing as I ran from my pursuers. "What’s the chance you can jack with the Archangel’s LAIs or whatever equivalent tech they have?"
"The virus I sent through the Union ships hasn’t borne fruit," X-37 said.
"Look who just used a nonsensical metaphor," I said. "Good job, X."
"I recommend you increase your speed until you reach the next intersection. There will be a lift that will take you up to the next level," X-37 said.
Seeing a better alternative in the ceiling of this hallway, I clicked my HDK Dominator to my gear to free both hands and jumped, grabbing the sides of an open hatch. I wasn’t sure if it had been left open by an overworked repair crew or had been knocked loose by the ongoing ship battles.
Just as I jumped, the ship lurched downward, making it even easier to reach my objective and scramble through another maintenance area to the deck above us.
There were times when everything just worked—like the universe actually liked me.
"Or you could do that," X-37 said.
I tossed one of my few grenades behind me and ran toward the next intersection. X-37 had plotted out all of the elevators, which I avoided because I assumed they would have the tightest security and remote control systems.
On the inside of the elevator shaft, there was a ladder. I climbed it as fast as I could while lifts raced up and down.
"You are making this a lot harder than it should be," X-37 commented.
"Yeah, but I’m making good time and the Archangel jerkoffs haven’t caught me," I said, not wanting to tell X that my grip was shot and my shoulders were on fire. "Since I’m doing all the hard work, I need you to update your evaluation of the Archangels."
"Of course, Reaper Cain," X-37 said
. "I will add our recent encounter to my database."
Ten minutes later, I left the elevator shaft and found evidence of a hard fight. Blood spattered the walls. I counted three severed hands and half a dozen bodies. Some had died from the clean, arteful cuts of a sword saint, while others had been shot in the neck—a technique I’d been teaching Elise during our training sessions in the slip tunnel.
"Two things, Reaper Cain," X-37 said. "You must find a new elevator shaft to reach the bridge. Ship security has placed guards on the one you just left. Secondly, my analysis shows that most of the Archangels must be on the Dark Lance with Vice Admiral Nebs—so don’t get cocky. Your success here means nothing.”
“It means a little bit,” I countered, then followed a new map on my HUD. We were getting close. Once I had a chat with the captain of this stealth carrier, things would get much easier.
A massive series of explosions ripped through the Black Wing, tossing me into a wall hard enough to knock the wind out of me and steal a few seconds of consciousness.
"What the hell was that, X?" I shouted.
"Shield breach. The Nightmare is now hitting the ship directly," X-37 said.
The next explosion sounded closer and I heard metal tearing from the force of major damage.
"You do have your helmet sealed, Reaper Cain?" X-37 asked.
"Abso-fucking-lutely," I responded, picking myself up.
"Good, because the Black Wing is losing atmosphere," X-37 warned.
17
Alarms filled the ship as crew members scrambled toward escape pods. Others worked frantically to repair damage. Medics and volunteers rushed past me with men and women on makeshift gurneys.
"All hands, this is your captain." The strong female voice actually filled me with confidence, even though I was certain she wanted me dead. "Evacuation protocols are underway. Follow orders and do your part, by the numbers. This is not a drill."
"Damage reports indicate there have been several hull breaches, including the engine room and fuel transfer levels," X-37 said. "I hope you weren’t planning to steal this ship."
